Environmental Protection Agency accountability
Senator Whelan seeks a debate on weak regulation and argues that the EPA lacks proper ministerial and Oireachtas accountability, particularly over its handling of Corrib-related emissions testing.
I would have thought that by now we in this country would have learned the consequences of turning a blind eye. We have seen in no uncertain terms what happens when we have light-touch regulation in the financial services sector, and we are all still paying the price for it, as the previous Senator stated, and we will continue to do so. We have also seen what happens when we have lax or no regulation in the charities sector and this particular can of worms continues to unfold and unravel.
I ask the Leader for his assistance in facilitating a debate. This country will rue the day we continued to turn a blind eye and allowed the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, to continue its lazy laissez-faire lax and light-touch regulation regarding facilities throughout the country. This is not just a Portlaoise issue. I have been contacted by people from Askeaton, Tynagh, Kerdiffstown and Shannon who all have the same story to tell. The EPA is a law unto itself.
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It does what it likes with impunity. Thanks to the Cathaoirleach I was able to table a question to the Minister on the Adjournment last Thursday and I was horrified to learn the EPA is accountable to no one. It is not answerable to the Minister or the Department and it is not accountable to the Oireachtas. It is a law unto itself and it is going about the country on tyre-kicking exercises passing off as verification and carrying out emissions tests which it announces in advance before its staff arrive. We need proper regulatory oversight and accountability for the Environmental Protection Agency. Otherwise we will wake up to another headache in this country in no uncertain terms and a disaster with serious consequences for pollution and public health.
The situation in the Enva plant in Portlaoise is worrying in the extreme and it will unravel and unfold further. Will the Leader please invite to the House the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Phil Hogan, whom I believe wants to uphold the highest standards of accountability, verification and enforcement when it comes to environmental controls and the rigorous enforcement of standards? The Minister must come to the House in order that we can find a way to hold the EPA to account. It is not doing its job. It is asleep at the wheel and we will rue the day we ignore it.